Kioloa

The experience of living in an art gallery nestled privately in the trees perched on the edge of Noosa National Park guided the design.

The elements of Kioloa house are carefully nestled in the existing coastal vegetation around it, working with the contours of the natural topography to maximize and celebrate two distinctly different coastal views. The house naturally frames a distant view along the beach from Sunshine to Coolum, terminating at Coolum mountain. The view is dotted with coastal settlements that twinkle in the distance come nightfall, but with it comes the ferocity of south easterly winds that frequent the area.

The northern view is by contrast wide, characterised by undulating natural coastal landscape that includes the Pacific Ocean, the ridge of Noosa Hill and the Tinbeerwah and Cooroy mountains to the west. Without sign of human habitation, this view celebrates living on the edge of the Noosa National Park, with all the climatic benefits of a generous aspect to the northern sky. The spatial zones in the house are designed around these two experiences essential to the site, with the sleeping zone framing the distant southern view and the living zone embracing the wide northern view.

The natural material palette of stone, masonry, timber and glass, detailed minimally, presents a ‘less is more’ backdrop that remains neutral for the two real focal points of Kioloa house: the magnificent surrounding landscape and the artwork throughout the spaces.